1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a storage apparatus power supply unit and a storage apparatus management method.
2. Description of the Related Art
A storage apparatus comprises a storage part, which is connected to a plurality of hard disk drives in an array, and provides a logical storage region (logical volume) to a server or other such host computer (hereinafter, “host”).
To enhance reliability and availability, a storage apparatus provides a host with redundant storage regions based on RAID (Redundant Array of Independent Disks). Further, in a storage apparatus, various resources, such as microprocessors and communication channels, are made redundant. The power supply unit for a storage apparatus is also made redundant from the standpoint of this kind of high reliability and high availability.
In the prior art, a plurality of hard disk drives is treated as a group, and a plurality of power supply units is respectively allocated to each group (Japanese Laid-Open Patent No. 11-168832). Under normal circumstances, power is supplied to the respective hard disk drives inside a group from one power supply unit, and if the one power supply unit should malfunction, the storage apparatus automatically switches to another power supply unit, and power is supplied to the respective hard disk drives from this other power supply unit.
However, most storage apparatuses, for example, use a standard casing stipulated by ANSI (American National Standards Institute) standards. A standard casing like this comprises a plurality of slots. Various devices, whose external dimensions are standardized like those of rack-mounted devices, can be mounted to the respective slots.
When a standard casing has an open slot, a user will sometimes mount another company's product, which is related to a storage system, to the open slot. Another company's product refers to a product, which is supplied from a vendor that differs from the storage apparatus vendor. Since power is supplied to the respective slots from a power supply part inside the storage apparatus, the other company's product can achieve the prescribed functionality by receiving a supply of power from the storage apparatus.
Furthermore, although not storage apparatus-related technology, in the field of distribution boards, a device for measuring the current value of respective bifurcated bus lines, which branch off from the trunk bus line, is known (Japanese Laid-Open Patent No. 2004-120825).
A storage apparatus is a relatively large-scale, complex system product, which comprises a plurality of disk drives, a controller, a power system and various other devices (functional parts), and also comprises characteristics that require high reliability and high availability.
Therefore, to maintain high reliability and high availability in a storage apparatus, environment information of various devices mounted on a storage apparatus is acquired either on a regular or irregular basis in preparation for the occurrence of a failure in a device. Environment information, for example, can refer to information related to the power supply built into the respective devices.
However, when another company's product is mounted to an open slot in a casing in accordance with a user's situation, the storage apparatus is not able to acquire the environment information of the other company's product. This is because the other company's product only comprises standardized external dimensions, and the storage apparatus simply supplies power to the other company's product, which is mounted to the casing.
In particular, most storage apparatuses are utilized by incorporating them into a data processing system that uses a storage apparatus. In a data processing system such as this, for example, other types of apparatuses besides a storage apparatus, such as a switching apparatus, a NAS (Network Attached Storage) system, a web server, and a security server, are also used. Thus, a user will mount another company's server, or switching apparatus to an open slot on a storage apparatus to make effective use of installation space.
Even when the company's product is mixed together with other companies' products inside a casing, the storage apparatus is capable of managing the state of one's own product. However, under normal circumstances, the storage apparatus is not able to manage the state of another company's product inside the casing. This is because the other company's product in this case simply borrows the open space of the storage apparatus and receives a supply of power.